How to Create the Best Medicare Sales Scripts for Your Call Center

Developing effective Medicare sales scripts for your call center team can seem like a daunting task. It requires careful consideration of the customer’s needs and objections, as well as an understanding of how to craft a compelling message that will resonate with them. 

Fortunately, there are some key steps you can take to create the best Medicare scripts possible.

In this article, we’ll discuss what to include in Medicare scripts such as a strong opening hook, rebuttals to common objections, and closing techniques that will help ensure success when speaking with potential customers. With these tips in mind, you’ll be able to craft powerful Medicare sales scripts that keep customers on the line and—most importantly—improve health insurance sales.

Where to Start with Your Medicare Scripts

To build the most effective Medicare sales scripts, follow these steps that cover the script writing process from end to end.

Start with the Right Scripting Technology

In today’s day and age, you can’t go without the right tech to support your sales performance. For building and using scripts, that means having the best dynamic scripting software working in tandem with your dialer. 

Dynamic scripting helps you easily build Medicare scripts faster and more efficiently while allowing you to customize the scripts to fit your brand or company’s needs. But crucially, it also helps your agents more easily put scripts into action when they have leads on the phone. Responding in real-time based on customer responses, agents can access the scripting information they need to support successful conversations no matter which way the discussion turns.

Personalization Is Key in 2023

Customers today expect a personalized and tailored sales experience. In 2023, personalized Medicare scripts are more important than ever before. Customers want to feel valued, and Medicare scripts that don’t address their individual needs simply won’t be as successful. 

Medicare call center scripts that are personalized and tailored to the customer can help build trust and encourage customers to continue the conversation. But how do you make sure your scripts are personalized? Once again, technology can help. Dynamic scripting software is able to populate scripts with individualized info from your CRM. This way, you can remind leads of where and when they expressed interest and ask tailored questions based on info they submitted when they opted in.

Write the Way People Talk

Using natural and conversational language in Medicare scripts will make them more engaging for customers. Writing Medicare scripts that sound like someone is actually speaking will help build a connection with the customer and make the conversation more comfortable. This can also help sales reps better retain information as they are presented with scripts written in their own style.

Begin with “Yes”

Once you’ve solidified your message, brainstorm and develop multiple potential prospect responses to your initial introduction question. Each scripting pathway you design will then be included in your dynamic script so that your agent can guide the lead toward a disposition no matter how they initially respond. (Hopefully, converting to a sale or transfer, depending on your objectives.)

Positive prospect answers will provide the clearest pathways toward conversion. Write out these script paths first to get a handle on how conversations flow during the best calls. Then, start considering how things might diverge from this ideal path at all points along the way.

Anticipate Responses and Discover Pain Points

Incorporate attempts to discover customers’ problems and challenges. Ideally, with the right Medicare script, your agents will be listening for responses based on questions you’ve carefully built in, questions intended to help discover the pain points that might stand in the way of a conversion.

Open-ended questions like “What is the biggest challenge you’re facing?” and “We’ve found that our customers often have a problem with X. How do you feel about that?” can help you understand not just what they need but what they need to be persuaded. 

During this step, experience on the phone with live leads is crucial. Utilizing real-life paint points that your agents face every day, you can design a script that paints a mental picture for customers, enabling them to see and feel what things will be like if their pain points are resolved.

Track Performance and Make Improvements

So, you’ve written what you think is a pretty darned good script that accounts for all the objections and responses you’re already familiar with. Now it’s time to put that theory to the test. 

Expect to get feedback from agents and to put some work into places where things don’t go as smoothly. Are there gaps in your scripting plans that you didn’t anticipate?

This sort of fine-tuning is inevitable. To continue improving your call center performance, you’ll always need to take measurements and make adjustments. Think of this as a flexible process during which you’ll refine your script as you learn what’s most effective. As long as you have the right reporting and analytics tools to understand performance, each day on the phones will provide ample data to improve.

What to Include in Your Medicare Sales Scripts

Following the above process make the right considerations as you try to build the best Medicare sales script possible, whether you specialize in Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, or both. However, you’ll still need to sort out exactly what to include along the way to maintain prospects’ interest, overcome their objections, and ultimately close a deal. 

Perfecting the Script Opener

Your script should start with an attention-grabbing opener. Open with a question, a benefit-oriented statement, or something that is interesting and relevant to the customer’s needs. Keep it short and concise so they don’t feel overwhelmed and stay focused on the conversation. It can also help to remind them of their interest from the get-go. (After all, these leads you’re calling raised their hand in order to be called.) Include a short line in your script that references where and when they opted in to be called.

Medicare Rebuttals: Handling Common Objections

No Medicare script is complete without giving agents the ability to respond to a few common objections. Prepare for these by writing out potential Medicare rebuttals in your sales scripts. Make sure to phrase them positively and remain professional at all times. Addressing customer objections calmly and confidently will help build trust and encourage customers to stay on the line. Consider the following responses to common objections:

• Objection: “I’m not interested.” 
• Response: “I have in my records here that you requested more information about our plans at [Date and Time]. If you have just a few minutes, I think we can save you a significant amount of money on your healthcare costs.” 
• Objection: “I’m not on Medicare yet.”
• Response: “That’s no problem. I just want to make sure you don’t pay any penalties for enrolling too late. May I ask when you’re planning to retire?”
• Objection: “I don’t want to change my plan right now.”
• Response: “I understand. I don’t know that a significant change is necessary, but what would you say if I could get you an upgrade to lower your monthly premium without sacrificing any coverage?”
• Objection: “I need to talk to my spouse/child/doctor first.”
• Response: “No problem. If you’d like, I’d be happy to talk to them, too. Have them give me a call anytime.” OR “I understand and can call back when you have the information you need. Are you available on [Date] between [Time] and [Time]?”

Closing Techniques That Work

The goal of any Medicare script is to close the sale. To do this, you will need to decide which closing techniques will be most effective. Consider including the following common techniques in your Medicare sales script pathways:

• The “Now or Never” Close: Include time-sensitive trigger words like “last chance,” “ending soon,” or “don’t delay” to inject some added urgency into the situation. Oftentimes, this technique goes hand-in-hand with the reality of the short open enrollment period.
• The Assumptive Close: An assumptive close keeps the sales agent on the front foot by assuming that they’ve presented the right info required to close a policy. Lead prospects closer to the final dotted line with a question like “Should we start filling out the application?” or “Do you think [Tier/Plan A] or [Tier/Plan B] is sounding best for you? Whichever you choose, I can get the paperwork ready right now.”
• The Soft Close: In some situations, a lead may not be ready to fully commit. Nevertheless, a technique like the soft close can help you ascertain whether they’re open to learning more. Ask a question such as, “If I could reduce your monthly payment by [X amount] while still maintaining your current level of coverage, would you be interested in learning more?”

Browse our Health Insurance Sales Success Kit—your go-to resource for generating more health insurance policyholders all year round.